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Lions look to avoid imperfect season vs. Packers

Dec 26, 2008 - 9:46 PM Detroit (0-15) at Green Bay (5-10) 1:00 pm EST

GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Ticker) -- The Detroit Lions are one loss away from an imperfect season.

The downtrodden Lions look to avoid becoming the NFL's first 0-16 team when they visit the Green Bay Packers, who are looking to avoid their longest losing streak in 20 years.

The Lions were sandblasted by New Orleans on Sunday, 42-7. Drew Brees threw for 351 yards and two touchdowns, leading an offense that racked up a franchise-record 32 first downs and did not punt.

"Awful, embarrassing," said Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky, who completed 10-of-23 passes for 125 yards and two interceptions before being benched in favor of Drew Stanton. "We stunk. Any bad adjective you can use, throw it in there."

The Lions will now look to avoid a winless campaign at frigid Lambeau field - where they haven't won since 1991.

Since the NFL expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978, no team has played an entire season without a victory. The last winless team was the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went 0-14.

"It's very real," center Dominic Raiola said of the prospect of a winless season. "It's right there in front of us. It's pretty sad that its come to this."

He added: "I think this would be a lot worse (than 0-14)."

What makes the task more imposing is that Detroit has lost six straight and 14 of the last 16 meetings between the teams.

"(Winning in Green Bay) is a daunting task," Orlovsky said. "I'm sure everyone will be betting against us."

The lone bright spot for the Lions has been second-year wideout Calvin Johnson, who has 69 catches for 1,229 yards and 10 touchdowns despite having three different quarterbacks throwing to him this season.

Johnson caught four passes for 64 yards last week before leaving with a bruised knee, but is expected to play this game. The second overall pick of the 2007 draft had a 52-yard touchdown that would have tied the game at 7-7 negated by an illegal-formation penalty.

One of the Lions' more frustrating losses was a 48-25 setback to Green Bay in Week Two. The Lions fell behind, 21-0, then battled back and took the lead on Johnson's second TD catch with 7:41 left in the second quarter.

In typical Lions' fashion, though, the team fell apart. Aaron Rodgers led a drive that ended in a go-ahead field goal and the Packers returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the final three minutes.

One year after reaching the NFC Championship game, Green Bay is looking to avoid losing six straight for the first time since a seven-game slide from October 23-December 4, 1988 - four years before Brett Favre was acquired from the Atlanta Falcons.

Rodgers, Favre's successor, threw for 260 yards, a pair of scores and an interception in a 20-17 overtime loss to the hated Chicago Bears on "Monday Night Football."

The Bears blocked a potential game-winning field goal in regulation, and Robbie Gould booted a 38-yarder in overtime.

"It's disappointing. It's tough. It's frustrating," Rodgers said.